TOKYO (REUTERS) — President Bush pledged Tuesday to defend South Korea against aggression, to keep a U.S. military presence in Asia and to develop a missile defense system to protect its allies in the region.
Speaking to the Japanese parliament, the Diet, Bush warmly endorsed Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and voiced confidence that Japan would emerge from its third recession in a decade if it took “bold action” to revive its economy.
Wrapping up a three-day visit to Japan, Bush vowed to use “American power” to support Australia, Thailand and the Philippines, where U.S. forces are already training the Philippine military to fight “terrorists” suspected of being allied with accused Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
“We stand more committed than ever to a forward presence in this region,” Bush said in a speech in the wood-paneled chamber, with the U.S. and Japanese flags draped above him. “We will continue to show American power and purpose in support of the Philippines, Australia and Thailand.
“We will deter aggression against the Republic of Korea,” he added. “And to help protect the people of this region, and our friends and allies in every region, we will press on with an effective program of missile defenses.”
Bush made the relatively tough speech as he prepared to fly later in the day to South Korea, where small protests have erupted at his labeling of North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an “axis of evil” seeking weapons of mass destruction.
In the center of Seoul, South Korea’s capital, where the U.S. embassy and ambassador’s residence are located, security was reinforced and police with riot sticks patrolled the streets.
In Tokyo, about 100 leftist radicals staged a rally outside Parliament Tuesday, protesting the U.S. operation in Afghanistan and its possible expansion into Iraq.
“We oppose America’s invasion of Afghanistan. Stop the expansion of the war into Iraq,” the protesters, many wearing white facemasks and sunglasses, chanted as Bush spoke inside.
“America is not simply fighting the war in Afghanistan, it is trying to expand it to Iraq, and we oppose that,” said Tomoyuki Tashiro, a 25-year-old spokesman for the demonstrators.
From South Korea, Bush will travel to China, where he suggested he will press the Chinese leadership to respect “the rule of law, the freedom of conscience and religion, and the rights and dignity of every life.”
“Bold action”
Bush began his six-day Asian tour in Japan, where he has sought to nudge Koizumi to enact painful economic reforms to revive an economy whose recession threatens to drag down the rest of the region and to slow recovery in the United States.
“Japan, thanks to my friend the prime minister, is on the path to reform,” Bush said in his address — a line that drew laughter from a few lawmakers in the chamber, reflecting growing doubts in some quarters about Koizumi’s commitment to reform.
Bush recalled the U.S.’s experience with its savings-and-loan financial sector crisis in the 1980s as a model for Japan to clean up the massive bad loans that plague its banking sector.
“We learned that in times of crisis and stagnation, it is better to move forward boldly with reform and restructuring than to wait, hoping that old practices will somehow work again,” Bush said. “Through bold action, we emerged a better and stronger economy, and so will you.”
As he has throughout his visit, Bush praised Koizumi — whose popularity ratings have recently plunged — and compared him to Ichiro Suzuki, the Seattle Mariners baseball star who last year won the American League’s Most Valuable Player award.
“I trust him. I enjoy his sense of humor,” Bush said, drawing appreciative laughter from the lawmakers. “He reminds me of a new American star, Ichiro. The prime minister can hit anything you throw at him.”
Bush thanked Japan for its unprecedented decision to send naval vessels to support the U.S. military in Afghanistan and hailed the two countries’ alliance as a bridge across the Pacific.
Bush to visit DMZ
After speaking to the Diet, Bush was to lunch with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace and then fly to South Korea. The final leg of his Asian tour takes him to China Thursday and Friday.
If Bush had to be careful in Japan to avoid lecturing on the economy, his two-day trip to Seoul will require equal diplomacy in explaining that his “axis of evil” remark was not designed to undercut South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s “Sunshine Policy” of rapprochement with the North.
Bush first used the phrase last month, describing North Korea, Iran and Iraq as seeking weapons of mass destruction and warning the United States would not allow itself to be threatened with such chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
“We seek a peaceful region where the proliferation of missiles and weapons of mass destruction do not threaten humanity,” Bush said. “We seek a region in which demilitarized zones and missile batteries no longer separate people with a common heritage and a common future.”
Bush will peer into North Korea Wednesday when he visits the Demilitarized Zone, the heavily mined buffer that separates the two countries, which technically remain at war because the Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace agreement.
In Beijing, he and Chinese President Jiang Zemin will discuss prickly issues such as arms proliferation, human rights, Taiwan and the U.S. missile defense program, which China opposes.
Bush pledged Tuesday to “remember our commitments to the people on Taiwan” and said he would seek common ground with Beijing, saying, “We will work with China in the great task of building a prosperous and stable Asia.”
